DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.
DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Karam, Andrew. "How Do Fast Breeder Reactors Differ From Regular Nuclear Power
     Plants?" Scientific American 17 July 2006: n. pag. Web. 18 Nov. 2009.
     <www.scientificamerican.com...
     article.cfm?id=how-do-fast-breeder-react>.

This article describes the key differences between regular nuclear reactors and fast breeder reactors. In a typical nuclear reactor, energy is produced when a Uranium-235 atom absorbs a neutron and splits, generating energy and releasing two neutrons. However, the neutrons released are traveling too fast to be absorbed by other U-235 atoms and have to be slowed down by a coolant. In a faster breeder reactor, the neutrons are not slowed down, the reason being that U-238, the more common form of uranium, can absorb fast neutrons and becomes Plutonium-239, a highly fissionable atom. In some fast breeder reactors, thirty percent more fuel can be produced than was put in. Unfortunately, there are a few downsides to this process. In order to use the Pu-239, the waste from the breeder reactor must be reprocessed and the plutonium extracted. In addition to this, Pu-239 can be used in the construction of nuclear weapons. 

This article presents a brief description of the workings of a fast breeder reactor and its pros and cons. While there are no reprocessing facilities in the United States, which are necessary in the use of fast breeder reactors, fast breeder reactors may be used sometime in the future when uranium starts to become less abundant.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.
Freudenrich, Criag. "How Nuclear Fusion Reactors Work." How Stuff Works. Discovery, 2009. Web. 18 Nov. 2009. . This article offers information on the possibility of nuclear fusion reactors, an even cleaner and more efficient form of energy generation than nuclear fission. Nuclear fusion has not been able to be used for commercial generation, but there are experimental stages of reactors in various laboratories in the US and in other countries. A consortium of the United States, Russia, Europe and Japan has proposed to build a fusion reactor in France to prove its viability. The two different fusion reactions that might be used in a reactor would either be a tritium-deuterium reaction or deuterium-deuterium reaction, though each has its drawbacks. The protons in the cores of each atom repel each other, and drastic measures have to be taken to overcome this force. For fusion to occur, the temperature must reach 100 million Kelvin (six times hotter than the sun's core) and the nuclei of the atoms must be within 10^-15 meters of each other. To achieve these conditions, we must use high powered lasers, magnetic fields, or ion beams. Currently, only the conditions for deuterium-tritium reactions can be met, though some time in the future, the more efficient deuterium-deuterium reactions may be use (deuterium can be extracted from seawater, tritium must be made.) The reactor in France will use a high powered magnetic field to compress and heat a stream of hydrogen (deuterium and tritium are both isotopes of hydrogen) until fusion starts. It will take 70 megawatts of energy to start the reaction, but the reaction should produce 500 megawatts in its 300 to 500 seconds of operation. Scientists hope that someday sustained fusion will be possible, but for now, this is not technologically feasible. If it becomes possible, nuclear fusion would rapidly become one of the best sources of energy, producing energy from an abundant fuel source (hydrogen) and producing little radioactive waste. The information in this article is clear, and while not always concise, it gets across the point. However, after questioning my adviser as to the feasibility, he seemed to believe that nuclear fusion as a power source is much farther off than the article presented. I guess we will just have to wait to see who is right.
DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Goff, Lisa. "Quick Study: The Facts on Nuclear Energy." Reader's Digest 2009: n.
     pag. www.google.com. Web. 11 Nov. 2009. <www.rd.com...
     your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/nuclear-energy-facts/
     article81880.html>. This article details facts about nuclear energy.
     After thirty years of relative inactivity, the nuclear power industry start
     pushing for expansion in 2007, with nine new applications for nuclear power
     plants and a push for a national waste repository at Yucca Mountain.
     According to this article, 63% of Americans currently support the expanded
     use of nuclear energy. The article points out the things that can go wrong
     with nuclear energy, storage facilities losing coolant through accident or
     sabotage, reactor meltdowns, Chernobyl-style explosions, and the
     possibility of nuclear proliferation. It goes on to mention that new
     reactor designs can minimize these threats, using natural processes to move
     coolants rather than pumps. Also, progress has been made in the field of
     recycling nuclear waste for future use. However, despite the majority in
     favor of nuclear power, it is unlikely that major progress will be made in
     the expansion of nuclear power.  
     This article comes from a reliable source and can be counted on to provide
     correct information. The author does a good job of staying unbiased for
     such a controversial issue. The statistics will likely come in useful later
     in my project.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

"The Nuclear Fuel Cycle." World Nuclear Association. World Nuclear Association,
     Jan. 2009. Web. 11 Nov. 2009. <www.world-nuclear.org...
     inf03.html>. This article is a description of the nuclear fuel cycle.
     Uranium is first mined using either underground shaft mining or pit mining.
     Uranium can also be mined using leach mining, in which groundwater is
     circulated through an ore body, dissolving the uranium oxide and bringing
     it to the surface. After this, the ore is milled, which extracts the
     uranium from the ore. The ore may be only .1% uranium. The rest of the ore,
     called tailings, is placed in engineered facilities near the mine. Only .7%
     of uranium mined is fissionable Uranium-235, so the uranium then goes
     through enrichment to bring the level up to 3-5%. The uranium is converted
     into a gas, uranium hexafloride, and subject to either diffusion or
     centrifuge enrichment. This enriched uranium is compressed into fuel
     pellets, which are encased into metal fuel rods, which are in turn put into
     a reactor fuel rod assembly. This assembly is put into a reactor and the
     uranium is subject to fission, generating heat. This heat turns water into
     steam which then turns turbines to generate energy. Plutonium is formed
     within the fuel assembly and is used for fuel. From this process, one ton
     of uranium generates 44 million kWh, the same as 20,000 tons of coal. After
     12-24 months, the fuel rod assembly is removed from the reactor and moved
     into a storage tank while the most radioactive elements decay. Fuel can
     then be reprocessed, in which Uranium-235 and plutonium are removed and
     later used for fuel, which both adds to the fuel supply and significantly
     reduced the volume of waste, or simply put into a storage facility for
     later use. There are currently no disposal facilities for nuclear waste,
     though due to the small amount of waste and possible use of the fuel, there
     is no pressing need for such a facility. 
     This article provides a good in site to the procedure that is used
     to generate energy from uranium and what happens afterward. While I am not
     yet sure how to use this information, it will be a good source for when I
     seek to inform the public about nuclear energy.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.
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